Singapore

Richard Florida ranks countries based on the proportion of workers in the 'creative class.' He ranks the U.S. 27th in the world, trailing a top ten including Singapore, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.

Like the Hamptons for affluent New Yorkers, Singapore emerges as the go-to real estate hot spot - replacing Hong Kong - for wealthy Chinese. "It confers class status in China to say that you own a flat in Singapore," asserts Mohamed Ismail.

As Singapore's population booms, officials are working through plans to help the city absorb its people but also provide them with adequate green space.

U. of Toronto economist Matthew Turner discusses his study that shows that building more traffic lanes attracts more traffic. Likewise, providing more transit may lure motorists out of their cars, but those motorists are replaced.

Officials in Malaysia and Singapore have high hopes for the high speed rail link planned between the two countries.

This collection of city profiles looks at cities around the world that are making major improvements to the way they handle and provide water.

Indonesia cities are the product of sparse planning, floods, overdevelopment, brownouts and epic traffic jams magnified by the dearth of public transit. In response, private planned cities like CitraLand's Singapore of Surabaya are growing rapidly.

Cities in the C40 climate leadership group from across the globe are looking into improving taxi services, citing them as key to mobility in urban centers.

Singapore, Masdar, Songdo City- each of these municipalities are creating "systems of systems", integrating their data from water, electrity, waste, etc. to make smarter decisions.

Hong Kong and Singapore are two thriving, rival Asian cities. But when evaluated in terms of livability, Hong Kong was rated #71 while Singapore scored #28. Singapore's cleaner air was considered a major factor. Hong Kong is making changes.

When the link between transit operators and real estate developers was severed in the early 20th century, transit became both unprofitable and unresponsive to market demand, and land value-lowering MTA cuts are just one example, says Stephen Smith.

Singapore, one of the world's most livable cities, is facing a population boom that some say will give the city a crowded and unpleasant future. Recent weather-related destruction highlight some of its growing pains.

In Singapore, where land is precious, new concepts in building are being proposed to create shared resources for different industries in the same space.

A new 350,000-person eco-city is being planned in China, this time with cooperation from Singapore. Planners are hopeful that it can serve as a sustainable model for development in countries with high population growth.